President’s Message

MICKEY KASPARIANPresident

Welcome to the Working Families Council!

In May, UFCW Local 135 joined forces with eight other unions to form the San Diego Working Families Council.

Our new council is an association of affiliated unions and organizations. We came together for the purpose of advancing the well-being of working families in the San Diego and Imperial Counties region by advocating for worker friendly public policy, promoting unity and collaboration between unions and community-based organizations, and electing worker friendly candidates to office.

The San Diego Working Families Council is an avenue for local unions to come together as a unified group. Together we represent an estimated 50,000 local working families. This is an opportunity to activate our rank and file members – so everyone can get involved in their union. After all, our members are the union and we work for you.

This new affiliation will benefit you, our members more than ever. To illustrate this, the SEIU Local 221 County bargaining team conducted negotiations at Laborers’ Union Local 89 hall to tell the County of San Diego to Invest in San Diego Families. And, in June, the Communications Workers of America went out on strike against AT&T and we were right there with them picketing.

Together we can get much more done for our members as we stand together on every action and support each other in any way we can.

In the new council, we will continue our relationships with our community partners. Our members will be eligible for the Unions United program, which is for union members who need assistance from United Way of San Diego County, and provides emergency assistance to union members experiencing hardships. The department provides assistance with food, security deposits, prescription drugs, bus tokens and unemployment claims and periodically for rent, mortgage and utilities.

The Center on Policy Initiatives (CPI) brings research and action for economic equality for working people and diverse communities throughout San Diego. CPI works to increase access to good-paying jobs and quality health care, and they work to improve conditions for lower-wage workers and families.

Interfaith Worker Justice – San Diego (IWJ-SD) is a faith based organization that mobilizes religious people for living wages, safe working conditions, a voice on the job, and policies that support working families at work, home, and in our communities. Whenever we ask them for help and they show up.

Now more than ever, we are fortunate to be working with eight of the largest and most powerful unions in San Diego County. Working people are under attack by our government and big business. Therefore, we will continue with our legislative agenda to help working people.

We will continue our work with our community partners on housing issues, eliminating income inequality and immigration reform. These partners include the Employee Rights Center (ERC), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE).

All of these partnerships will support our union in our contract fights and organizing campaigns. We are stronger today than ever before.